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Post by Atticus on May 23, 2017 22:20:59 GMT -5
Winter creased her brows, but found herself laughing quietly. "I do, don't I?" That was part of why she wanted adventure so badly. Sitting still on the ranch gave her so much time to overthink. When she visited Ryu, her existential crisis were few and far between. Her gaze trailed over to him, and she looked at him softly. The Umbreon's lolling tongue had retreated in his mouth, and he looked peaceful, like she had just caught him in the middle of a great nap. She didn't think she had ever seen him look totally at ease, even when asleep.
"Yeah, you're right." She butted her head against her brother's cheek gratefully. "Humans take such a long time to grow up. They're so strange. Chelle and I were born the same year, but I stopped asking Chance to join my tea parties years ago," the Sylveon cheesed, waving her tail at her sunbathing brother.
At the mention of Tunes, the Sylveon perked. "I'd love for her to! Heck, if I could just run up the road with one of Ellie's kids without Mum giving me stink-eye, I'd be happy." Her dreams of grandeur were interrupted by Ryu kicking a paw in his sleep, jerking her back to reality. Well, she couldn't leave now. She had to help Ryu settle in, if he would finally be willing.
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Post by subtleAssiduities on May 23, 2017 22:27:53 GMT -5
Chance and Austin looked toward the Umbreon, silence prevailing as they watched for more movement. When there was none, Austin spoke quietly. "Well, Tunes won't let you do anything you want. She's pretty strict. She helped train Mum, you know."
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Post by Atticus on May 23, 2017 22:33:55 GMT -5
"I'm not a criminal!" Winter wheezed. "As long as there's no picket fence, I think I'll be okay!"
Where am I?
When Ryu's eyes fluttered open, the world was in two. That is, even through silver slits his vision was groggy. Objects in his line of sight were indistinguishable and wavy, as if they were on a ship in a storm. It was exhausting, and quickly giving him a headache, so without much thought the Umbreon blinked his eyes shut.
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Post by subtleAssiduities on May 23, 2017 22:38:55 GMT -5
"I'll be in charge of you full-time," Chance warned, flashing her a smirk. It was no secret to anyone that he was the brains, and Austin was the brawn when it came to dealing with her. She didn't have a good idea of how he could actually steer her behavior, if he needed to. But there was nothing malign in the statement. Just a tease.
Austin glanced at Ryu once again, believing for a moment that he had caught a flicker of movement from him. Unsure if he had or not, he continued to listen to the two, but he kept an eye on the stranger.
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Post by Atticus on May 23, 2017 23:03:18 GMT -5
"Pfft, because clearly that's worked well," Winter teased lightheartedly, crossing her paws neatly. With a shallow breath, she took a moment to simply enjoy being nonchalant with her big brothers. They were a very welcome distraction to ease her racing blood from earlier. In fact, as much as she wanted Ryu to wake up and to prove that he was in better health, she was worried about his reaction. By nature, he hated crowds. He was wary of strangers. There would be a lot of smoothing over to do when he woke, and inevitably, a lot of picked-up aggressive convincing.
***
The jingling of bells greeted Eleanor as she entered Mahogany Town's petite grocery. With wooden walls and a creaky floor, it was very homely to the woman who had spent a great majority of her life in this part of the region. And, as expected, behind the counter was a petite old lady, whose pale cheeks sagged and whose hands wobbled when lifted. Her silver hair was up in a tight bun, that Ellie considered may have taken the woman a good few minutes to do.
"Hello!" Eleanor greeted cheerfully.
"Hello, dear!" the woman replied in a warm rasp, waving her hand at a pace that made rocks look like race cars.
Smiling politely, Ellie looked quickly at the walls of the store, blue eyes dancing over each detail. There!
Approaching the desk, Elle wasted no time in segwaying into a conversation on ancient drapery. "I'm sorry, but that painting there? What's that star-like symbol from, or mean?"
The elderly woman slowly turned her head, craning her neck and squinting at the picture Eleanor gestured to. When that seemed not to deem the results the lady hoped for, she waddled over to the wall, cane smacking against the floor with each step.
"Ooh, that was the symbol of the Tsuki Clan! They were one of the noble ninja Clans of Mahogany Town back in the day."
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Post by subtleAssiduities on May 23, 2017 23:17:22 GMT -5
Dr. Pretz trailed Eleanor with interest. Upon hearing the old woman's response, she examined the symbol once more. "Can you tell us anything about them?"
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Post by Atticus on May 23, 2017 23:39:20 GMT -5
"Oh, yes," the old woman responded, clearly happy to have an audience. "They were one of the two noble Clans of ancient Mahogany Town! Their story, however, can almost exclusively be understood only through paintings left behind."
Excitedly, she made her way over to her counter at what she might have thought was a breakneck pace. From behind it, she grabbed and laid down a dusty brown book, whose cover consisted only of a moon and the Tsuki Clan's symbol. Licking her wrinkled thumb pad, the lady peeled open the book.
"What we have been able to gather over the years, is that when time began to modernize, the Tsuki Clan began to isolate itself from the village. At some point, they became highly competitive with the TaiyÅ Clan, politically. I'm sure you know what that means. All sorts of shady business going around... they were ninjas, after all!"
She turned the page.
"The Tsuki Clan became very isolated, you see, and eventually just vanished! No books from that time can explain anything, either - even authors back then were perplexed! Meanwhile, the TaiyÅ Clan remained in the village to protect it, and it seems adapted to the times. Real lucky for us, I'd say! Imagine walking home at night knowing there were people in the shadows, watching your every move! Oi!" The elder laid her hand over her heart exaggeratedly.
"Though that big mansion you see by the mountains, near the road to Blackthorn? That's the TaiyÅ Estate! Though, they mostly work in business or government jobs now, what with their..."
The woman babbled on, but as she turned the page, something grabbed Eleanor's attention in a moment. Impatiently, the younger woman thrust her finger on the page, landing the tip of her fingernail on a grey, canid-like shape.
"What's this Pokémon?" the blonde asked. It looked nearly identical to the Umbreon that Austin had brought to her.
"Oh, the Clans all had a mascot of sorts! Or at least, they became a mascot to us in our time, hehe! I don't think ninjas were much for parading around their precious Pokémon. Anyway, that there is a Tsuki Clan Umbreon! They used to breed them especially, it seems. And it's too bad they vanished like they did, because I wouldn't be opposed to having one of those myself! They're so pretty, don't you think? Shame they aren't around anymore."
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Post by subtleAssiduities on May 28, 2017 9:42:06 GMT -5
Dr. Pretz listened with great interest. This lady was not the most energetic storyteller, but it was clear that she was well-informed; at least as informed as one could be about a group of people that vanished in the near past. At the point of Eleanor's interruption, her interest was renewed.
"They are very beautiful. It's so mysterious, an entire people disappearing like that." She smiled at the old lady, hoping to incite a less anecdotal answer with her line of questioning. "Do you think they went into hiding, or ceased to exist?"
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Post by Atticus on Jun 1, 2017 10:29:03 GMT -5
The woman seemed to consider this. Speaking in a more hushed tone, she leaned over the desk and spoke, "Well, I think that depends how desperate the Taiyō Clan was to have their opposition wiped off the map! It's just as equally possible that the Taiyō had them all killed as it is that the Tsuki Clan packed their things and ran to avoid such an outcome. " Her old fingers tapped against the desk and she leaned back an appropriate space from the women. "Considering we haven't seen any evidence of the Tsuki Clan still alive and active, though, it might be safe to say they were lost."
The front door's bell jingled, and a young couple strolled in, waving at the elderly woman before going about their shopping.
She began to move towards them, likely to riddle them with stories, but looked over her shoulder at the two women with a coy smile. "But then I guess it would be very un-ninja-like to let an old lady like me just fall upon some clues, eh?"
Eleanor pursed her lips, leaning against the front desk with her arms crossed. Her intense stare remained on the open book, on the grey Umbreon with the lavender rings. This was not quite what she had been expecting to learn. Did that mean... was the Tsuki Clan truly still around? Or just their Umbreons?
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Jun 4, 2017 20:04:13 GMT -5
Dr. Pretz was scandalized. Despite herself, she was entirely invested in this story. Her gaze lingered on the book before shifting to Eleanor conspiratorially. It didn't really matter whether the clan was in hiding, or gone. It all was the same for this Umbreon- he was an orphan!
And on the chance that they did hunt him down, would his clan pose a risk to the Surge-Curtis family? She definitely didn't want to consider an option like that, but she didn't have enough information to shrug it off. This seemed to leave them in the same spot, but with more worries. What was Eleanor to do?
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Post by Atticus on Jun 12, 2017 20:11:27 GMT -5
Eleanor's blue eyes peeked at Dr. Pretz. Who would have known, the first time she assisted Vivian, what a scandal they would come across together? The elderly shopkeeper was clearly dedicated to Mahogany Town's ninja history, and yet she had no record of their Umbreons still being bred. What did that mean? Why was one in her barn right now? Why were her Pokémon like this?
"I'm worried," she mused in a hushed whisper, pulling Dr. Pretz to the side. "If we keep him in the barn, there's less likely to be a stink about this..." She considered that bringing him to any kind of professional would result in some sort of front-page news. Bringing him to town, merely, could evoke some sort of investigation from the more curious minded. If the Tsuki Clan was still around, they certainly wouldn't be thrilled to be exposed through the existence of their Umbreons... if they did still exist. Whereas, if she kept him away at her barn and let him recover... maybe they would realise she wasn't a threat? Debating the existence of ninjas... it seemed so silly, and yet, in her barn... Would they target her for having him?
She bit her lip. "I... Arceus it's dumb, but... I feel like the best thing to do right now is keep him at the ranch. Maybe once he recovers he'll just go back to wherever he came from."
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Jul 2, 2017 22:41:24 GMT -5
Dr. Pretz nodded. "I think you're right." She hesitated and thought this over. All of the considerations Elleanor had run through occurred to her, too, but something else made her fret. If the Umbreon's legs didn't heal as well as they expected- if he had a limp, or got an infection, anything that would slow him down -he may not be able to get to where he needed to be.
Revealing him to the public was absolutely not an option, but she'd been a vet for long enough to know that you didn't have to out a rare Pokémon to help it find its home.
"I have an idea," she murmured. "Let's get somewhere more private. We can discuss this more there."
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Post by Atticus on Jul 3, 2017 18:44:00 GMT -5
Eleanor and Dr. Pretz headed back to the ranch.
Upon entering the house, Eleanor's children were quick to greet her. Sending them each away with kisses, she let it known that she and the doctor had some business to attend to. The mother lead the older woman into her office, plopping down into her chair and sighing.
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Jul 3, 2017 18:48:50 GMT -5
Eli was right along with the kids. After watching them be dismissed, he followed them. He wasn't so naive to think that he could expect to join them and not have three ears pressed to the door, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to quietly sulk about being out of the loop.
Dr. Pretz allowed Eleanor to close the door and settle before sitting down across from her. "Now, we should definitely let out mysterious little friend stay on the ranch until he's ready to go, but that doesn't mean we can't advertise him a little bit in Mahogany Town."
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Post by Atticus on Jul 3, 2017 19:46:57 GMT -5
Ellie leaned on her desk, intrigued. "You don't think that might be dangerous?" She was worried that if the Umbreon was seen by the wrong pair of eyes, they could all be in a lot of trouble. But she knew Dr. Pretz was a clever woman and must have good reasons for bringing it up.
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